Police Believe Carjacker At Westfarms Was Injured

FARMINGTON — Police were searching Friday for a suspect who may have been injured when he crashed the car he stole in a carjacking at Westfarms mall Thursday evening.

Police described the suspect as a black man in his early-20s, about 5 feet 6 inches or 5 feet 7 inches tall, with a medium build and short cropped hair. He was last seen wearing a gray jacket.

The incident, in which a mall employee was attacked about 6:40 p.m., was the second report of a carjacking at the mall in as many months. But in September, the Branford man who filed the first complaint was charged by West Hartford police with falsely claiming he was carjacked. He has denied those charges. .

Mall general manager Dianne Noth said that after the police investigation is completed, mall officials will talk with police to see if there is anything the mall could have done to prevent the carjacking.

"We're not going to underreact, and we're not going to overreact," she said. "The most we might do is add another [security] vehicle just to make people feel better about the situation."

Although the mall spends more than a million dollars a year on security, Noth said, a local or private enforcement agency cannot provide a 100 percent guarantee of safety.

Between 5 and 6 million cars a year and 15,000 a day park at the mall, and Westfarms' track record is good, Noth said.

Police said they believe the suspect in Thursday's incident may have been injured based on damage to the woman's car, which the man crashed on I-84 eastbound near the West Hartford-Hartford border.

Farmington police said the suspect in the carjacking attacked the store employee as she approached her car, keys in hand.

Coming up from behind, the man threw the 26-year-old Waterbury woman down on the pavement, grabbed her keys and took off in her green, 1989 Volkswagen Jetta, police said.